Shadow and Dream

Harry Garuba,s Shadow and Dream, a slim yet highly influential collection which immediately gained a cult following, has continued to elicit the awe of poets and lovers of literature within the Nigerian literary scene. First published in 1982 when Garuba was still in his early twenties, it demonstrates an uncommon maturity, vision and understated confidence that have rarely been encountered ever since its initial release. With the publication of this edition together with a new foreword and introduction, Garuba,s landmark work moves from cult status to canonical validation. Born in 1958 in Akure, Nigeria, Harry O. Garuba, poet, literary critic, and distinguished professor, was the nominal leader the Thursday Group, an influential gathering of poets that emerged from the Poetry Club, University of Ibadan, during the 1980s and 90s. The poets, who were also fondly called the Thursday People, imposed stringent standards upon themselves in mastering their craft. Garuba and the rest of the group believed that poetry as an art form was meant to be lived and experienced in its entire range even if it entailed transcending the boundaries of sensibility, convention and nationality. Garuba eventually became a respected professor of literature and Africa studies at the University of Cape Town in South Africa where he passed in 2020.